Driving for the top-notch Forti team, Naspetti won a titanic struggle with Mauro Martini to clinch the 1988 Italian F3 championship in only his second year of racing cars, having been in karting between 1980 and '86.

Drawing a blank in his first season of F3000, Naspetti then came under the wing of Eddie Jordan in 1990 but again disappointed, scoring but a single point. It was a different story in 1991 when, with the advantage of a Heini Mader-tended Cosworth engine in his Forti Corse Reynard, the Italian came out of his shell to string together a run of four victories at Enna, Hockenheim, Brands Hatch and Spa. Still with Forti, he stayed in the formula for a fourth year in 1992, winning at Pau, but then jumped at the chance to join the Formula 1 March team, replacing Paul Belmondo in mid-season. Emanuele proved surprisingly quick to adapt, clinging tenaciously to his team-mate Wendlinger for most of his debut race at Spa.

Naspetti spent much of 1993 frustrated at the lack of a Formula 1 drive, but did make a one-off appearance for Jordan in Portugal as a reward for his efforts as a test driver.

Since then he has carved out a niche for himself in the Italian Superturismo series with a BMW 320L A controversial stop-and-go penalty in the final round cost him the chance of the title in 1996, but he made amends the following year as he dominated the championship. Emanuele subsequently hankered after a return to single-seaters and visited the States to sound out the possibility of a ride in CART but, thus far, he has continued to race in Italy, where his BMW has had to play second fiddle to Giovanardi's Alfa Romeo.